A New Chapter of Daughters
by meara29
Summary: You've all heard of the Daughters that live in LA, but what about in other parts of the country?
1. Default Chapter

Jenni walked into Stonewall high for her first day of high school. She had arrived early, asking her dad to bring her on his way to work rather than be seen arriving on the 'hick route' bus. Her next door neighbor, Trish, a senior this year, had warned her that those from the smaller towns on the edges of the school district were automatically labeled as hicks, and looked down upon by the 'townies', especially the richer ones.

'Not that they aren´t a bunch of uneducated rednecks themselves,' Trish had said. 'But some of them like to lord it over whoever they think they can lord it over. Especially the freshman, seeing as they are the new kids in the school.'

Jenni had heeded Trish´s warnings, picking out clothes and accessories that were not likely to draw attention (and of course getting her dad to drop her off). Jenni felt quite lost upon entering the high school. It was far bigger than her old elementary-middle school. She had been told that Stonewall High had an enrollment of nine hundred students, near 225 students per class. Jenni´s whole elementary school, grades kindergarden through eight, had 225 students. Even though only a third or so of those 900 students had arrived, Jenni still felt overwhelmed. She slid into her homeroom and chose a seat in the back. There were two other students already in the room: one girl, one guy. Both seemed thoroughly engrossed in the books they were reading. Jenni did ot know the guy, but recognized the girl. Jenni had forgotten her name, but knew that she was from the town of Hanover, like Jenni. The other girl, however, had not gone to Jenni´s elementary school. She had homeschooled through eighth grade. Jenni could not help noticing that they both wore identical moon amulets.

Other students slowly entered the classroom. At quarter to eight, the bell rang, and their homeroom advisor introduced herself as Ms Johnson, and began taking attendance. Jenni did not pay much attention to the other student´s names. The only name she remembered was the other Hanover girl´s name: Magaly. Ms Johnson had the standard teacher 'welcome to school, I hope you are all ready to learn' speech prepared, and their schedules.

Classes that day did not particularly interest Jenni. The first week or two of every school year, it seemed, was a review of the year before. At lunch that day, she sat in a corner with two of her elementary school classmates, Erin and Rick, but she had a feeling that this arrangement would not last long. Erin was the type of person who would quickly figure out who was who in the social heirarchy and do what she could to ingratiate herself with the right people. Jenni did not blame her. Nobody wanted to be an outcast. Jenni knew that Rick would soon find guy friends to hang out with.

After lunch, Jenni headed to her English class. She found that Ms Johnson was her English teacher, as well as her advisor. English was her last class of the day, and as she was on the way out, Ms Johnson whispered to her 'Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you.'

Jenni wondered what she possibly could have done to earn her trouble or punishment so early in the term.

'Don´t look so worried,' Ms Johnson said. 'What I have to say isn´t bad.'

Jenni felt only slightly relieved. Teachers would often say things like that to soften the blow.

'What did I do?' Jenni asked.

'What are you? Would be a far more appropriate question,' Ms Johnson replied.

'What do you mean?' Jenni asked.

'That amulet. Where did you get it?' Ms Johnson asked.

'My mom gave it to me when I was little,' Jenni replied. 'Why?'

'Because it is the mark of a Daughter of the Moon,' Ms Johnson said.

'A what?' Jenni asked.

'A Daughter of the Moon,' Ms Johnson replied. 'How much do you know about Greek and Roman mythology?'

'Some,' Jenni said. 'We read some myths last year in eighth grade.'

'Okay,' Ms Johnson said. 'Do you know who Pandora was?'

'Yeah. She was the goddess-person that had a box that she wasn´t supposed to open, but she did, and that let all kinds of bad stuff into the world,' Jenni replied.

'Exactly. But, one thing remained in the box: hope. An ancient evil, known as the Atrox, has been trying for millenia to steal hope from the world. But, Selene, the Moon Goddess, had pity on the human race, and sent her daughters to protect the world from the Atrox, so that hope would never be stolen. The hope is that the daughters will one day be able to destroy the Atrox forever.'

Jenni sat in shocked silence.

'Yes, I know, it is quite a shock at first,' Ms Johnson said.

'I don´t know whether to believe you or to think that you´re pulling my leg,' Jenni said.

'Think for a minute,' Ms Johnson replied. 'Have you ever done anything, or made anything happen, that a person could not normally do?'

Jenni thought for a minute. 'Well, in middle school, I started just knowing test questions a day or sometimes a week before the test, without ever being told or anything. Sometimes when the teacher would give an oral exam, I could see questions forming in the teacher´s head, well before the question was asked. Something like ESP.'

Ms Johnson smiled. 'Mind reading, or ESP, as you call it, is one of the powers that a daughter of the moon might have. Each daughter has a certain gift to use in her battle against the Atrox.'

Jenni stared.

'I know, this is a lot to take in for one day,' Ms Johnson said. 'I´ll let you go for now, but I want to continue talking with you about being a Daughter. I was once one, and now I guide Daughters.'

Jenni slowly got up from her seat. 'See you round,' she murmured weakly.

'See you,' Ms Johnson replied, as Jenni walked out the door.


	2. Jenni finds another

For the next few days, Jenni tried to process what Ms Johnson had told her. How could she be a goddess? She was only plain, ordinary Jenni.

_I bet this is a common type of Amulet_, Jenni thought. _I´ll find some others who have the same one, and show Ms Johnson that they´re all normal._

Jenni looked and looked, but no one else in her classes had the same amulet. Nobody she saw in the cafeteria had one. In fact, nobody in the whole school had the same amulet. The more Jenni thought about it, no store anywhere sold that amulet, nor had they ever even seen one like it.

Jenni spent odd half hours with Ms Johnson after school, learning to use her mind reading talents, and how to control it. Now that she was learning, Jenni began searching the school, to see if there were any more Daughters. Ms Johnson told her that Daughters were often found in clusters, maybe four in a school the size of Stonewall. But Jenni did not find any.

One morning Jenni was standing outside her locker, getting her books ready for her first class, when someone banged into her. Jenni whirled, looking for the culprit. Another girl was crouching, picking up papers off the floor.

'I am so sorry,' the other girl said, standing up. 'I was totally not paying attention, and I am so sorry.'

'It´s all right,' Jenni said. 'No harm done.' She was startled to see a moon amulet around the other girl´s neck. 'By the way, what´s your name?'

'Althea,' the girl said, estending her hand.

'I´m Jenni,' Jenni replied, shaking the girl´s hand. 'Where´d you get that amulet?'

'My grandmother gave it to me, I think,' Althea said. 'I was really little though, so I can´t remember that well.'

'I never knew that anyone besides me had one of those amulets,' Jenni said.

_Come on Jen_, she thought to herself. _Quit being so shy and tell her what the amulet means._

'Yeah, they´re not very common,' Althea said. 'But I´ve seen one other freshman wearing one.'

'Who?' Jenni asked.

'Some girl called Magaly,' Althea said. 'She´s in my Spanish class, but I don´t really know her that well. It´s the only class we have together. Hey, does your amulet light up sometimes?'

'Yeah,' Jenni said. 'How did you guess?'

'Mine does too sometimes, usually when sketchy people are around,' Althea said. 'Or when something dangerous is about to happen. I was about to cross a street once, and the amulet lit up, and a second later, there was a car wreck maybe 50 feet away from where I was standing.'

'Same here,' Jenni said. 'Do you know Ms Johnson at all? She seems to know a lot about strange amulets and stuff.'

'No, I have the other freshman English teacher,' Althea said.

That afternoon, Jenni brought Althea to meet Ms Johson, and they told her about Magaly.

'What´s your gift?' Ms Johnson asked Althea.

'I think it is healing. A few times my little brother, or a little cousin will put their hand on a hot stove or something, and if I just touch the burn, it will heal.'

'Excellent. Daughters can always use a healer,' Ms Johnson said, beginning to explain all over again, who the Daughters of the Moon are.


	3. They find themselves together

Althea and Jenni brought Magaly with them to talk to Ms Johnson the next week. They had waited to talk to her about being a Daughter until they were with Ms Johnson, to save repeating.

'What's your gift?' Althea asked.

Magaly sucked in a deep breath, like she was about to jump into cold water or something. 'Time Travel,' Magaly said. 'I discovered it when I was eight. I accidentally sent myself back to the year 1195, or thereabouts. Luckily I met someone who could help me control my time travelling ability.'

'Eight?' Ms Johnson repeated. 'That's impressive. Some teens cannot even fully control their power.'

'When you do a time travel, can you do a space travel as well?' Althea asked.

Magaly nodded.

'How accurate are you?' Ms Johnson asked.

'Depends on how careful I am,' Magaly replied evasively. 'If I'm careful I can hit a spot exactly. If I'm not, I won't. But I still usually land within a kilometre or two of where I mean to be.'

'Do you know of any other Daughters?' Jenni asked. 'Have you seen anyone else with another moon amulet?'

Magaly rolled her eyes in a disgusted sort of way.

'I take that as a yes,' Jenni said. 'You don't like that person do you?'

'Who is she?' Althea asked.

'Another freshman,' Magaly said. 'She's a girl, obviously, by the name of Kristen Johnson.'

'What's wrong with her?' Althea asked.

'She's one of the popular girls. She is one of those superficial ditzy types that doesn't ever think about anything more than what to wear or what makeup would look best with it,' Magaly replied. 'That is what is wrong with her.'

'She's not that bad,' Althea said. 'I'm in the orchestra with her, and she's a really good oboe player. But I've never seen her wear the amulet.'

'It is really tangled up in all those other necklaces and whatnot that she wears,' Magaly replied. 'If you look, it is hiding there.'

At the Daughters' next meeting, Althea brought Kristen with her. Jenni could feel Magaly's animosity towards Kristen, though she did behave politely towards Kristen. Jenni could see it in Kristen's mind that she had immediately picked up on what Magaly thought of her, and was a little offended. _Is she another mind reader?_ Jenni wondered.

As it turned out, Kristen, or Kris as she liked to be called, was a shape shifter. She had discovered her gift in fifth grade, when she discovered that by wishing something about her appearance, it would be so. She had wished for hair like an older girl, and it had become reality. Naturally, in middle school, this gift made her quite popular in middle school. Kris had quickly discovered that big changes made her unrecognizable, not popular, and so had stuck to small changes, like highlights in her hair or maintaining a tan in the winter.

'Can you do animals?' Althea asked, always the inquisitive one.

Kris nodded. 'I've only tried a few though. Just a dog, a crow, and a cat.'

Ms Johnson sighed to herself as the girls left that day. She couldn't have picked more different girls to work together. Kristen was in with the popular crowd, a decent student, but not great. Althea, though not popular, was certainly not unpopular. She was an excellent musician, and not much of an athlete. Jenni was a shy girl, who hardly ever spoke in class, and seemed content with a long string of Bs and Cs. Her shyness prevented her from entering any after school activities. Magaly, on the other hand, was a brilliant student, easily making straight As in the advanced classes. Ms Johnson wondered what she did after school.

_But, what when they start fighting the Atrox?_ A voice inside her head asked. _They won´t have so much time then, will they?_

Ms Johnson sincerely hoped that the girls would not have to choose. Magaly did not seem likely to accept Kris into her circle of friends, and Kris was not likely to be friends with someone so antagonistic. _A fight with the Atrox, and perhaps some hard choices, may be the only way to make them completely accept each other,_ Ms Johnson thought. _But I hope there is an easier way._


	4. the Follower

One morning a few weeks later Jenni was collecting books from her locker before home room when she saw a new guy walk in. While she certainly did not know everyone in the school, even by face, she knew this guy was new by the way he walked into school. She felt her amulet grow warm against her skin under her shirt, and knew that this kid was trouble.

When he came out of the office a moment later, schedule in hand, he took one look at Jenni, and headed her way.

'Hi, my name is Toby Mirriam,' he said, extending one hand. 'What´s yours?'

'Jen Thompson,' Jenni replied.

'You from around here?'

Jenni nodded.

'Can I get you to show me around sometime?' he asked.

'Sorry, but I´m busy for the next couple of months,' Jenni replied. 'Besides, my dad is not about to let me go hang out with some random guy that he does not know.'

'Who says he needs to know?' Toby asked.

'I´m not that easy,' Jenni replied, shutting her locker. 'Now if you´ll excuse me, I have to go my homeroom, and you´d better too. I wouldn´t want you to be late on your first day here.'

She ducked into her homeroom just as the bell rang. She was relieved to see that Toby had not been put in her homeroom.

Rumor quickly made it around the school that Toby had been living in Oregon with his mom, but had run away to come live with his dad in Maine. He was sixteen, but only a freshman on account of being held back once, and irregularities with transferring credits from his school in Oregon.

Toby tried several times to ingratiate himself with Jenni, but each time she politely refused. She saw him associate with the sleazy crowd of guys, and a group of cultish Wiccan kids with a reputation for trouble. While Jenni did not consider herself picky, she did not want one of 'those' guys, and she quickly learned to run to the bathroom, or into her classroom when he saw her coming.

But one day he caught her up against her locker between classes. 'I know who you are, Moon Daughter, and one day I will have you.'

'Are you serious?' Althea asked when she heard.

Jenni nodded. 'I just hope he doesn´t know about you guys.'

'See if you can get in his head,' Magaly said.

'Be careful,' Ms Johnson warned. 'He could trap you there if he is powerful enough. And there, you will be vulnerable.'

Jenni, ever the shy and polite one, was reluctant to break into his mind, not only for the danger to her, but because she felt a person´s mind to be their own, something not to be invaded. The next day, Jenni waited near her locker for Toby to arrive at school. When she saw him walk in, she reached out to him mentally. She searched his mind, but found no wall blocking her, something that Ms Johnson had warned was characteristic of the Atrox, especially for the more powerful ones. But she did see that he wanted to become a Follower, though wasn´t one yet. Toby´s eyes widened, and turned his head, sensing someone in his head. Jenni retreated quickly, busying herself with her books. But Toby thought of her almost immediately, and strode toward her.

He slammed his fist against the locker next to her, hissing, 'That was you, wasn't it? You were the one messing with my head.'

'What do you mean?' Jenni asked, trying to look confused.

'You know what I mean. Now stay out of my head.' With that, Toby marched off.


	5. The book

The other daughters asked her that afternoon what happened. When she told them, they immediately began the girly clucking, telling her how glad they were that she was all right.

'Can you guys meet me this Saturday?' Magaly muttered under her breath. 'I have something to show you all.'

'We have play practice from one to four,' Kris said. 'But after that we can talk. Where do you guys want to meet?

'How about my apartment?' Ms Johnson asked, appearing behind them.

The girls quickly agreed and copied down her address. They split and headed their separate ways.

That weekend, Magaly was in the back of the auditorium, watching the play practice. She had not realized until this time what a big production the school play was. The director had been a professional, and now taught theater at their high school. Kris, Jenni, and Althea were all involved; Jenni with creating the set (at the suggestion of Ms Johnson), Althea with the orchestra, and Kris as an understudy and with the orchestra.

Partway through the rehearsal, Magaly noticed that her amulet was glowing and growing warm. She looked around and realized she was not the only spectator. She noticed an upperclass guy leaning against the far wall. Magaly beckoned to Jenni, who was taking a break. Jenni went inside his head, or tried, and discovered that his mind was blocked. He was a Follower, and stronger than Toby.

'Good afternoon Daughter,' he said to her mentally.

Jenni said nothing, but tried to pull away.

'Don´t be shy, I won´t hurt you,' the guy said.

Jenni pulled with all her might.

'I´ll show you that there is nothing to fear,' he said, letting her go.

'Looks like they are keeping tabs on you,' Magaly said.

Both girls were relieved that the guy did not follow them to Ms Johnson´s apartment later that afternoon.

'So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?' Ms Johnson asked.

Magaly pulled a large, leather bound volume out of her backpack.

'This,' she replied, laying the book on the kitchen table.

Ms Johnson gasped. 'This is the Secret Scroll,' she said, flipping through the pages. 'Where did you get it?'

'I found it in the time tunnel,' Magaly replied.

'I´m surprised. This means that another time traveling daughter is the heir. She must have been attacked, and dropped it in the tunnel,' Ms Johnson said. 'I´m going to call Maggie, my old mentor to see if one of her girls is the heir.'

Five minutes later, she had an answer. 'A girl by the name of Catty is the heir. She is all right, for now. She escaped unhurt, and is still under 17. So, it looks like one or all of you need to return the scroll to her.'

'Can you do a space travel while you do a time travel?' Kris asked Magaly.

Magaly nodded.

'Good. We have our answer,' Kris said. 'Magaly can do it.'

'Yeah, but what if there is the Atrox waiting for me at the other end?' Magaly asked. 'Your idea makes me nervous, because I don´t know where I´m space traveling to. What if there are Atrox waiting for me there?'

'And I suppose you think that you can just hop on a plane to L.A., deliver the book, and be back that afternoon?' Kris retorted. 'I doubt that would go over well with your parents, spend hundreds of dollars on a plane ticket to give something to someone you don't know.'

'Or you could just mail the book,' Althea said.

'What if there are Followers that work in the postal service?' Jenni asked.

'As a matter of fact, I can just hop on a plane to L.A.,' Magaly said. 'I can go in person to deliver the book.'

'Your parents aren´t that rich,' Jenni said. 'You told me so.'

'But they can scrape enough money together for something that could bring me a college scholarship,' Magaly said.

'What cock and bull story are you going to be feeding them?' Kris asked.

'No cock and bull story. Gymnastics competition,' Magaly replied. 'There is one in the L.A. area in three weeks. What´s Maggie´s phone number? Tell her to encourage the girl to go watch, and wait for me outside the arena or something.'


	6. The daughters are followed

'Since when have you been that good a gymnast?' Kris asked. 'Why have you kept that a secret?'

'No secret,' Magaly said. 'Just not important to us until now. I´m not going to waste my time talking about something irrelevant. Anyway, I´ve been an elite level gymnast for two years, and I´ve been going to out of state competitions for six. I started qualifying to regional competitions at age eight.'

'So where exactly is this competition?' Ms Johnson asked.

'Anaheim,' Magaly replied.

Ms Johnson called Maggie to tell her of the situation. She hung up a few minutes later, and turned back to the girls.

'Luckily, Maggie´s girls were all there at the time,' Ms Johnson said. 'I´m not sure if Jimena, one of the girls, will drive them to Anaheim, or if Catty will take them through the space/time tunnel. The atrox already know about all of them, so they can´t hide by taking a plane.'

Three weeks later, Jenni, Althea, and Kris were piled into Althea´s father´s car, following Magaly´s family to the airport. Jenni, Althea, and Kris had managed to wheedle their parents into accompanying Magaly to Anaheim, under strict supervision of Magaly´s parents. Althea, an incessant web surfer in her spare time, had found cheap plane tickets, and Kris´ parents (who were relatively well off) lent them the money for a hostel and plane tickets.

At the airport, however, problems began. Their amulets set the metal detectors off, causing security personel to wand them over with the metal detector sticks. The girls were relieved when no one asked any questions. But, their amulets had begun to glow.

'Jenni, who?' Magaly whispered.

Jenni reached out mentally. She found a Follower among the security personel monitoring the x-ray machine. Jenni discretely pointed the person out to the other girls.

'What is this?' the security person asked, indicating the manuscript in Magaly´s carry on.

'It is an inter-library loan book from Colby,' Magaly replied. 'I am in an advanced level Latin class at school, and my teacher thought it would be a good assignment to read pieces of the book.'

The security guard grudgingly let their bags pass, and they were off to their gate. Jenni mentally watched the Follower.

'Following us,' she whispered.

The other girls looked over their shoulders, relieved to see the security guard go into a bathroom. They found seats next to their gate and waited for boarding to begin. Magaly intently watched the bathroom, hoping that the security guard would not come after them on the way out.

A few minutes later, a stewardess emerged from the bathroom, walking towards the gate where the four Daughters were sitting.

'I think that is the security guard Follower,' Kris whispered.

'I hope she´s not on the same flight,' Althea whispered back.

Much to their dismay, the woman did enter through the same gate that the girls were to leave from, and boarded the plane that the girls were to be on.


	7. a narrow escape

It wasn't long before their flight began boarding. The girls found their seats and settled in. Magaly got the window seat kept her bag with the Secret Scroll under the seat in front of her, to give her easy access, and prevent the stewardess taking it out of the overhead bin. It was, unfortunately the Follower who came past checking the overhead lockers to make sure that they were all shut properly.

'Good thing you put the bag under the seat,' Althea muttered. 'Otherwise she could have gotten to it right then.'

The girls settled back into their seats for the flight. They would have to stop and change planes in New York City, and all fervently hoped that the Follower stewardess would not follow them. But she did. Magaly again got a window seat and stowed the Secret Scroll under the seat, to keep it as safe as she could.

About halfway through the flight, Magaly asked Althea to move, so Magaly could get to the bathroom in the back of the plane. The Follower stewardess was waiting for her.

'I saw you have an old manuscript of something in Latin when you opened your bag a little while ago. Where did you get it?' she asked.

'Inter-Library loan from Colby College,' Magaly replied. 'I´m taking Latin in school, and it was an assignment to read portions of it.'

'Colby College doesn´t have that type of manuscript that you have in your bag,' she said. 'Now, where did you get it?'

'My teacher told me that she really did get it out of the Colby College Library,' Magaly said.

'And I said that Colby College doesn´t have that type of manuscript. Your teacher was pulling your leg. What did she tell you to do with it?' the stewardess growled, threatening Magaly.

'Read it,' Magaly said.

'Now you listen here girly,' the stewardess growled. 'That type of manuscript is not just handed out to kids that look like they should be in 6th grade. It was probably stolen, or contains something illegal. Now, I will be waiting by the exit when you get off this plane. You hand that manuscript over to me and I will make sure it gets to the proper authorities.'

With that, she let Magaly use the bathroom and go back to her seat. Magaly told the other girls what had happened on the way back.

'Okay, we need to do something,' Jenni said.

'Do you have to be able to picture a place in order to time and space travel there?' Althea asked.

'If I want to be accurate about where I land,' Magaly said.

'Have you been to Anaheim before? Can you picture someplace in Anaheim?' Althea asked.

'I´ve been there once,' Magaly said. 'Last year.'

'All right, let´s go, teleport us,' Kris whispered.

'That will look suspicious, and someone needs to take care of our carry-ons,' Magaly said, checking her watch. 'Ok, we have an hour before this plane is supposed to land. There are two lavs in the back. One of you come with me.'

'Let´s wait a few minutes, see if the stewardess goes to the front,' Althea said. 'She might try to grab you and stop you.'

Much to their luck, and surprise, the stewardess did walk up to the front with the beverage cart ten minutes later. Magaly slung her bag over her shoulder and followed Althea to the back.

'Good thing Mom and Dad got seats further up front. This way when they don´t see us getting off the plane, we can tell them that they just didn´t see us because of too many people in the way.'

'Oh no,' Althea said, pointing.

The stewardess was hurrying down the aisle towards them.

'You are not going anywhere girls,' she said, as she got close to them.

Magaly pulled an image into her head of the airport they were to land at, and grabbed Althea´s arm. The stewardess grabbed hold of Magaly´s bag, holding them back. Magaly wrenched away as hard as she could, but the stewardess was much stronger.

'Althea, help me,' she muttered.

After a few minutes of struggling, the girls got free long enough for Magaly to pull them both into the time tunnel. They fell out in a handicapped bathroom stall.

'Where are we?' Althea asked.

'I hope I got the right section of airport,' Magaly said. 'I aimed for this bathroom because it is near baggage claim. Plus I thought that we wouldn´t be as conspicuous this way. People will automatically assume that they did not see us enter the bathroom, or forgot, but if we appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the passageway, we will be noticed.'

Upon exiting the bathroom, Althea asked, 'How long do we have before our plane lands?'

'Ten minutes by my watch, unless the plane is early,' Magaly replied.

By looking at the computer moniters stationed every so often, they were able to determine that their flight was on time.

'Good, we are right near where the plane will unload passengers,' Althea said.

Magaly nodded. They found two empty seats nearby and sat down to wait. Twenty minutes later, their parents and friends walked out of the plane. Kris and Jenni handed the girls the stuff that they had left on the plane.

'That stewardess looked pretty mad that you two got away,' Jenni whispered, as they walked to baggage claim.

Magaly smiled. 'I just hope that she doesn't have too many friends waiting for us here,' she whispered back.

The girls watched their backs the whole way to the hotel, relieved when nothing happened.

'Wait, don't you have to take off your amulet when competing?' Kris asked.

Magaly nodded. 'Why do you think I was so eager to have one or all of you come with me?'

Magaly debated with herself about the Secret Scroll. It wasn´t exactly a purse sized object, but she didn´t want to just leave it in the hotel room while they went out to dinner. Eventually she decided to hide it in the room. She hid the Secret Scroll as best she could in the hotel room, between mattresses. On their way out to dinner that night, they saw the Follower stewardess, and a friend checking in to the same hotel.


	8. The Arena

'I hope she doesn´t find out what room we´re in,' Magaly whispered.

'What was that Magaly?' her mom asked.

'Just thought I saw someone here from school that we´d rather avoid,' Magaly replied, and to defect further questions, she said: 'Oh, don´t worry, this person is just annoying because they like to be wherever we are, no serious problems.'

'Well, she can´t find out what room we´re in, and bother us there,' Kris said. 'The hotel people can´t tell, I don´t think because that is a privacy issue.'

The next day they left early for the arena where Magaly was to compete. Kris carried the Secret Scroll in her backpack, ready to hand it over to the other Daughters. Ms Johnson had asked Maggie for detailed descriptions of the other four. Spectators were not allowed into the building for half an hour yet, and so Kris, Althea, and Jenni waited with Magaly´s parents by the door. Magaly´s parents proved inquisitive, wanting to know how the four had met, and how they had become such good friends so quickly. It made Jenni especially nervous, but their amulets did not light up, showing the Daughters that they were just normal, inquisitive parents wanting to stay involved in their daughter´s life.

'Hey, over there,' Kris said all of a sudden, pointing.

'What?' the other four asked unison.

'Friend of mine,' Kris said. 'From before I moved to Maine.'

For the benefit of the other two Daughters, Kris gestured her amulet. Jenni and Althea looked where Kris had pointed. Four teenage girls, about fifteen or sixteen years of age, were walking towards them. One was blond and wore a nose ring, two were brunette, and the fouth was Hispanic and sported two teardrop tatoos near one eye. From Maggie´s description of Jimena, they knew that the Hispanic girl must be Jimena, and that the three with her were the other 3 daughters. Jenni, Althea, and Kris walked up to meet them.

'Jimena?' Kris asked the Hispanic girl.

'Sí,' she replied. 'Pero Maggie nos dijo que había cuatro de ustedes.'

'There are four of us,' Althea replied. 'Magaly, the gymnast, had to go inside already to start warming up for her competition.'

'I see,' Jimena replied, and introduced Kris, Althea, and Jenni to her Serena, Catty, and Vanessa.

'Which one of you is the heir?' Jenni asked.

Catty raised her hand slightly. 'Me,' She said.

'Girls,' Cathy called. 'Doors are opening now. Let´s go inside.'

The girls turned to go inside the building. They found seats with an especially good view of the floor. Kris gave the Secret Scroll to Catty, who put it in her own backpack. Catty was about to say something, when Jenni interrupted.

'Look,' she said, pointing to one of the entrances to the arena.

It was the plane stewardess, with none other than Toby, and Aaron, the Follower that Jenni and Magaly had discovered that play practice three weeks ago. And they were not alone. There were four others huddled in a group with them.

'No!' Serena said, under her breath. 'We know four of them. They´re all Followers, and must have followed us here. You must know at least one of the other three if you knew to warn us.'

'Yeah,' Althea asked. 'We ran into the older woman at the airport yesterday. She was a security guard, and saw the Secret Scroll in Magaly´s bag, then dressed as a Stewardess to follow us.'

'The two guys that you don't know go to our school,' Jenni said to Serena. 'Both followers. One isn´t really strong as a Follower yet, but the other one is much stronger.'

'The four that we know are not Inner Circle yet, but they can be pretty strong when working together,' Catty added. 'The two guys are Karyl and Tymmie, and the girls are Cassandra and Morgan.'

'We´d better watch them,' Kris said. 'Magaly can´t wear her amulet while competing. We´ve got to watch her back for her. She´s so visible out there, and the Follower airline person knows what she looks like.'

'I wonder if we should try to do something,'Althea said. 'Distract them or something. Now that we´ve got the secret scroll. . . '

'No time,' Jimena said. 'It looks like Karyl and Timmie have already spotted us. And they have that about to start a fight look on their faces.'


	9. Mission Impossible

The Followers closed in around the Daughters, holding the rest of the multitudes in a time freeze.

'You!' the stewardess practically shouted, pointing to Catty. 'We know you have the scroll. Give it to us now, or we will go after your unprotected friend down there on the competition floor. Then we will finish you all.'

'They will do something if they feel they have to,' Jimena whispered.

The air crackled with static electricity as the Followers gathered their energies for an attack. Though Kris and Magaly had never been good friends, even Kris did not want to see Magaly blown to pieces.

'This would be a good time for you to know how to use that book,' Althea muttered.

'Thanks Magaly,' Kristen laughed.

'Hurry up and make your decision. Your friend or the scroll' Tymmie whined, as Morgan and Cassandra waited on the balcony, ready to hurl fire and lightning down on Magaly and the other unaware gymnasts.

Catty leafed through the scroll as fast as she could, looking for a way out, while the other daughters fathered their strength to fight the Followers. Though most everyone was held in a time freeze, they could see people moving in the stands. More of the Followers were coming. The Daughters knew they could fight a few Followers, but with the growing numbers, it was hard enough just trying to hold a protective ring around Catty. Althea tried to shout for Magaly, but the followers blocked them from her, mentally holding Magaly still.

Jenni, who until now had been nearly paralyzed with fright, struck out mentally at Morgan and Cassandra. They reeled momentarily. When they recovered, the looked down to re-locate Magaly.

'Hey, she got away!' Morgan shouted. 'Find her!' she yelled to another group of followers.

With a growing circle around them, the Daughters felt themselves being pulled apart.

'Hurry Catty,' Serena yelled.

While they could all speak Latin well, they could not read Latin nearly as well, and it was taking Catty quite some time to get through the scroll.

'Hey!' another voice called, causing everyone to turn.

Magaly was standing by a pillar, several meters away.

'Are you looking for this?' she asked, holding up a large book, very like the one Catty leafed through.

'Get her!' Karyl yelled.

Most of the Followers ran after Magaly, knowing their chances of catching one alone were much better than breaking a group of 7 Daughters united.

'If you want me, you gotta catch me,' Magaly yelled, disappearing with a loud bang, dragging a chain of Followers with her.

'Come on!' Vanessa yelled. 'Catty, take us after them!'

Catty threw the Secret scroll to Jenni to guard, pulling the others into the time tunnel. Jenni, left to herself, began leafing through the Secret Scroll, to see what she could make of it.

A few seconds later she was startled by a loud crack. Magaly stepped out of the air beside her.

'What the heck happened?' Jenni asked.

Before Magaly could answer, the other daughters fell out of the air around them.

'Don't ever do that to us again!' Jimena yelled. 'Do you have any idea how stupid that was taking them on all at once? What the hell were you thinking?'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Althea burst in.

Fortunately, Jimena had run out of breath, and was forced to stop her rant.

'Magaly, what was that other scroll thing about?' Serena asked.

'And what happened to all the Followers?' Jenni asked.

'I locked them all in Tartarus with that stupid block of wood,' Magaly replied. 'I don´t know how long until they break out, but it gives us some time to fully understand the Secret Scroll.'

'So that thing you had was just a fake?' Jenni asked.

Magaly nodded. 'Courtesy of my friend Ryan DeSalle. He´s good with the woodcarving, leatherworking, and bookbinding, so I asked him to put a fake together for us.'

'How did you manage to lock them into Tartarus, even temporarily?' Jimena asked.

'Found a spell in the Secret Scroll, when I was temporarily taking care of it,' Magaly replied.

'Magaly, you're great, I love you hon,' Kris chuckled. 'Give me a hug.'

By this point in time, people were coming out of their time freeze, and the girls returned to their places. Magaly held her own in competition, swinging a clean bar set, and putting the rest of the field to shame with her vaulting.

'She´s got a nice floor routine,' Vanessa commented.

'Appropriate music,' Jenni added. 'From Mission Impossible.'

'And choreography,' Serena chimed in.

'And that´s our best friend down there kicking some butt,' Kris added.

'And soon to kick some more butt,' Catty finished.


	10. two years later

2 years later. . . .

Stele sat up with a start, woken by another dream. She looked at the clock. 5:06 am. Stele sighed. Why couldn´t she just sleep like a normal person until the alarm went off at 6? She settled back under the covers, trying to fall back asleep for another 50 minutes or so, until she had to get up and get ready for school. But, she knew in the back of her mind that it wouldn´t work. She never fell back asleep after the dream. After ten minutes, Stele got up and walked into the bathroom for a shower. She was a long time in drying her hair afterwards, so that it was 6:15 by the time she made it downstairs for breakfast.

Her grandparents were sitting at the table waiting for her, while her mom scrambled some eggs on the stove.

'Have another dream this morning?' her grandfather asked.

Stele nodded. 'It's the same one, where a woman that looks like an angel or some kind of goddess tells me: tu es dea, filia lunae. I really need to find a Latin teacher or something to tell me what it means.'

'You just might this fall,' Stele´s mom replied.

'What do you mean?' Stele asked.

'We´re moving to LA at the end of the school year.'

'What?' Stele exclaimed.

'Your father got a job as a bank manager there. So we´re moving,' Stele´s mom said.

Though Stele pleaded and begged, nothing she could say or do could persuade her parents to stay in Alaska, or at least let her stay with her grandparents, and at the end of the school year, they moved.

Stele liked her new house, but did not like LA. There was too little open space around the house to roam, although her dad assured her that they lived in a safe section of the city.

The week after they moved in, Stele´s mom took her to La Brea high school to register for the fall semester. They walked into the foyer, and paused to get their bearings.

'Which door do we go in?' Stele whispered to her mom.

Just then, an older girl, maybe 18 or 20, walked out of a nearby door. Stele´s mom stopped her to ask where the office was.

'I can show you,' the girl said. 'My name is Jimena. You must be the new girl from Alaska.'

'Yeah,' Stele said. 'My name is Nadezhda. You work here?'  
Jimena nodded. 'Yep. Summer long internship. Grew up in the area, and now attending UCLA.'  
They walked into the office, and Jimena set down her papers on a desk. 'I´ll get you taken care of,' She said, pulling out more papers.  
Stele and her mom quickly filled them out, and as Stele bent over the papers, her moon amulet slid out from under her shirt.  
'Hey, that´s neat,' Jimena said. 'Not too many people have amulets like that.'  
'This? I´ve had it since I was born,' Stele replied.   
'Fun, me too,' Jimena said. 'And I´ve heard some fantabulous stories about the people who these are given to. You want to hang out sometime to hear some of these stupendous stories?'   
'Sure,' Stele replied. 'If it is okay with mom.'  
Stele´s mom nodded in assent. 'Just no rule breaking while you´re out.'


	11. Stele metes the other Newbies

A week later Stele and Jimena sat at Jimena´s kitchen table with an empty pizza box between them. Jimena had invited two other friends over, twins by the name of Mhairi and Meara.  
'I know this sounds unbelievable, but here it goes,' Jimena began. 'These amulets are only given to girls who are Daughters of the Moon. We are sort of spiritual daughters of the moon goddess, Selene, basically sent to planet earth to protect people from the evil power of the Atrox. The Atrox is basically a hope stealing force.'  
Jimena launched into the story of Pandora´s box for Stele´s benefit. Afterwards, Stele really didn´t know what to say.  
'Yeah, it´s a lot to take in at first,' Meara affirmed.   
'So you two are daughters as well?' Stele asked.  
The twins nodded.  
'We met Jimena when we were in 7th grade. Jimena was a junior or senior in high school, I can´t remember which. We met her through the big brothers/big sisters program,' Mhairi said.  
'How did you get the nickname Stele anyway?' Meara asked.   
'My friend David. My grandpa taught me all about sled dogs, and for the last 2 years I´ve entered the Junior Iditarod sled race. My friend David sometimes teased me that I needed to be made of Steel for the race, and so I´ve been Stele ever since,' Stele replied. 'I was hoping to race more, but then my dad got a job here.'  
'Dads have a way of getting jobs here,' Jimena said. 'Especially when their daughters are Daughters of the Moon.'   
'Yeah, we lived in Galway, Ireland until our dad got a job here between our 6th and 7th grade years of school,' Mhairi said.   
'I noticed the accent,' Stele said.

'Are there any other daughters out there besides us?' Stele asked.  
imena nodded. 'There are 4 in Maine, but one of them don´t have long before they make their choice. Only five months. The other 3 have about a year.'  
'How come they´re not here?'  
'Some strange quirk left a former daughter with her memories, albeit no power and she now teaches English at the school these girls are at. So she can act as their mentor, ' Jimena replied. 'Magaly, one of the four, has a gymnastics competition in Anaheim this summer, and so the four will be coming out here, and I can teach you guys all about the secret scroll. The Maine girls are making progress deciphering the thing, figuring out exactly what we need to do to destroy the Atrox, all the proper words and so forth. I wish we were born able to read Latin as well as speak it - that´s what is slowing us down, it is taking a while to read the old Latin.' 

For the next month, the girls met as often as they coul.d Jimena did what she could to help their powers grow while still controlable. Mhairi and Meara alerady had some training, having known Jimena for almost 2 years, but Stele soon caught up. Jimena sometimes took them to Planet Bang, a local club and hangout, frequented by a significant chunk of the La Brea population. The first time though, it took Stele a week to recover from the culture shock.  
'Yeah, it gets a little weird sometimes,'' Jimena said understandingly.  
'We hated it the first time,''Mhairi said. ''We still don´t go there often.'  
'High risk of unpleasant encounters with Followers,'' Meara added.  
Stele nodded. She had been warned about followers, though she had yet to run into any.  
The World Championships in august approached rapidly, and Followers somehow seemed aware of the Daughters´ reunion. tHe girls were in Planet Bang one night, just dancing with some acquaintances when a college aged guy came up to Stele, pulling her aside.  
'I know who you are kid,' he said.  
'Oh, good for you. You learned someone´s name,' Stele retorted. 'Now if you will excuse me, I was dancing.'  
'No, Daughter,' he muttered. 'I know what you are, and I know what is happening in Anaheim this summer.'  
'Yeah, all the normal summer things,' Stele replied.  
The guy leaned closer, and whispered in her ear, 'Stay away from that Jimena girl, or I will make you regret it.''  
'Bug off,' Stele said, pushing him away.  
'No Daughter,'' the guy said. ''You stay out of Jimena´s life. We are more powerful than you think.''  
Stele lashed out at him mentally, knocking him over a table. She looked around for the quickest escape route. She rushed for the door, pulling Jimena along with her. Mhairi and Meara were not far behind them.  
'Every follower in the city seems to know about Anaheim,'' Meara exclaimed, once they were in a quiet side street.  
'Calm, calm,' Jimena said.  
She could not get further, as the door to Planet Bang burst open, and the guy who had harrassed Stele ran out, followed by his friends.  
'Run,' Jimena said.  
They wound down back alleyways, following Jimena, who had learned all these places in her gang days. Stele made sure to look around her, noting the small details, so she could find her way back if separated. It wasn´t long until they were in a very sketchy looking neighbourhood. Jimena paused for a minute, to listen. The girls tried to quiet their loud breathing, hoping that if anyone was nearby, they wouldn´t hear.  
'I think we lost them,' Jimena said.  
'Hey,' a voice called.  
The girls turned. A slightly younger girl was standing at the end of a dark alleyway nearby. The girl seemed to be glowing faintly, and her face looked vaguely as if one face had been superimposed on another.  
'In the past lies what is to come,' the girl whispered, yet they heard every word clearly.  
Then, the illusion was gone. A girl of maybe 12 stood looking at them, a gun in hand, and ready to shoot.


End file.
